I don't full understand this whole North/South Korea thing - can someone explain it to me?

[KenAdams]

And why have America got involved. And what is the big deal about Chinas position?

I feel very thick

[DollyTwat]

I will ask Ivy
Will report back

[ivykaty44]

I didn't think the video was shot in the USA but possible in a European country looking at some of the buildings and cars?

[sashh]

Most of us (Americans) just want all our soldiers to come home and the fighting to stop and for us to keep our beaks out of everything

But we (US, UK, USSR, China) have created this situation. We should not try to just walk away.

That's what is happening in Afghanistan, the people are not ready, the police are corrupt, all police stations (well most) have young boys for the police to use for pleasure.

Schools built by the west will be empty because there is no money to pay for teachers. Water supplies/tanks built by the west are already failing because of lack of repair.

How long will democracy continue once the military have left?

[CheerfulYank]

Yes, I know that was overly simplistic. It does seem to be a never ending "what now" situation.

[CheerfulYank]

And those poor boys. It's hideous.

[Barbie1]

Thank you op for starting this, it is a thread that I have wanted to start up for some time now.

I'm currently in the middle of packing as we are due to relocated to an island off South Korea within the next few weeks.

Like some others on this thread I was totally ignorant about Korea before we were told it will be our next posting.

Before here we lived in the Middle East, it was only once we had moved there did i become interested in the history so found out as much as possible.

However this next move is worrying me, dh has just returned and said most S Koreans are just exasperated with the relentless threats from the north. They are just going about their daily activities without giving Kim Jong um much thought.

Dh returned last Friday so this was before the further developments.

I'm half tempted to put my foot down and refuse to go

[nocake]

The North Koreans are still Korean citizens as far as South Korea are concerned. In the unlikely event that the US invades and takes control of NK they would probably hand it over to South Korea. That means there wouldn't be the power and control vacuum that we've seen in Afghanistan.

[flatpackhamster]

BadgersNadgers

I have two hundred questions

1 if Japan were occupying NK at the end of WWII, how did Russia/China gain control?

After the defeat of Germany in May '45, the Soviet Union moved 120 divisions across half the face of the planet to launch an attack against the Japanese army in what used to be called Manchuria. In about eight weeks they wiped out or surrounded most of the Japanese divisions in north China.

2 This is probably silly but how can Kim Jong Whatevs afford all this nuclear stuff? Presumably he's living off the backs of his subjects (?) but how does the country make money?

It doesn't. There's no hard currency, because there's hardly any trade. Don't think of it as a modern country. Think of it as a somewhere like 16th century France, where the nobles (army heads) live in unparalleled luxury and the people live in abject poverty. There's enough money for a few people to live very well so long as they starve everyone else. It's essentially a feudal system.

ivykaty44

The same way russia gained control of half of germany - USA took there eye of the ball and let them walk in to Korea, plus they didn't have enough man power to be in germany pushing one way and in the eat pushing in the other way.

at the end of ww2 USA wasn't aware the push for land that Russia was goign to make and that was why they got half of germany - the wall went up - it was pretty much the same the other side of russia

No, there was a formal agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta Conference to divide up Eastern Europe after WW2. Churchill objected, warning Roosevelt that Stalin would never surrender the satellite states being created, but Roosevelt was very ill by this stage, and by 1944 the Americans didn't think that the British had any right to lecture them on anything, since they (the Americans) were doing all the heavy lifting.

[BadgersNadgers]

Thank you hamster, it's becoming clearer. I've downloaded Nothing to Envy.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Omg.

Watching the news and reading papers, it could all kick off pretty soon. its really scary stuff, thats all I know.

[cfc]

So interesting, thank you all for your replies, I'm learning as I read.

Have also bought the book.

[quoteunquote]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/1719696-Korea

link to the other thread.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Interesting thread, I'm going to download that book.

[KenAdams]

Thanks to everyone who has answered my questions I'm sure there'll be more. You are a very knowledgeable bunch.

[Barbie1]

I have just asked what would happen in the event of war breaking out and we are on the island. Dh didn't know the answer.

I have asked him to email his boss who is already over there. I really don't want to walk into a war zone

[101handbags]

Yet another vote here for Nothing to Envy, a fascinating and shocking read, I have passed it on to many people. Also for a quicker, 'easier' read 'This is Paradise! My North Korean childhood'. I have 2 more books on North Korea on the shelf at home, I think now would be a good time to pick them up. This may sound silly but I first got interested in the whole North Korea situation when they qualified for the world cup finals in South Africa in 2010. I remember thinking 'why don't the entire team just claim political asylum?'. How stupid this seems now, as having read the books I can only imagine what would have become of their families had they done so.

[ckwkatie]

Barbie, if I were you I'd be putting my foot down.

[Barbie1]

If it was that simple I would, however this is dh job and career. We live in the Middle East and was oblivious to any surrounding conflicts. I loved it there so was very upset to leave.

We have just spent a very hard year in France, it's not a place we want to be for much longer so we were looking forward to the next move, until as this happened

There are over 500 families heading out to start this project in June, nobody seems to share my concern the island is a far south as you can get so they seem to think they are out of harms way.

Dh boss down played any worried, said they have had to listen to the same bullshit for years.

There is a small airport an hour from the island which we would all be evacuated from, probably to Australia until things get sorted out.

My head hurts from thinking about all this constantly.

[Barbie1]

Sorry for typos on I phone at a soft play centre. Not the best combination!

[orangeandlemons]

Am surprised the US aren't sending in an underground crack squad to 'take him out'

I used to travel to S Korea a lot. They always used to have air raid warnings where people had to retreat to underground shopping malls. I feel really sorry for N Korean people. I saw a documentary on it a few weeks ago. One guy had escaped, but the rest of his extended family had been killed in retaliation. It sounds a terrible place to live

[orangeandlemons]

Barbie, I think it has been going n for years. The S Koreans just ignored it. However, this guy is off his head, and I think the whole world accepts that. He is posturing a lot to prove himself.....he does need 'taking out' but by whom and how I don't know. ( I hate that phrase!) . But look at him, he is threatening America. Wtf? America could wipe him out.

[tethersend]

Do you think this is Kim Jong un's way of ending the regime without losing face?

Could he be on the payroll of the CIA?

[cfc]

Do we all agree we could do with Jack Bauer here?k Bauer

[Barbie1]

orangesandlemons that's what frightens me, it has been an on going threat but this Kim Jong um seems to want to take it to a whole other level!

[MarmaladeTwatkins]

From what I understand of it, N.Korea are trying to force the U.S to the negotiating table. That is one of the reasons for all of this posturing. What would actually happen if they did manage to get the states into talks is a mystery seeing as you can't reason with an insane, irrational, power-pissed despot.